First off: Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I'm coming home for Thanksgiving.

Okay. Now that my parents' worries have been assuaged we can get down to business.

Right now I'm listening to an album of songs I recorded as part of my final project at Hampshire. It's weird- for the longest time after I recorded them, I thought they were utter shit. Now, after a couple years' space, I can listen to them and see the good and bad parts for what they really are. While I still doubt that many other people would enjoy listening to them, they still have meaning for me, and I still like the songs themselves.

The point of this little story is to illustrate the difference a little distance can make, particularly in creative endeavors. When you're pouring your heart and soul into something, it becomes difficult if not impossible to separate yourself from it. You lose all sense of perspective, which often makes the post-project period a pretty severe let down (particularly if you're as hard on yourself as I am by nature).

The other tricky part about working on something so near and dear to your heart is that friends and family will have a hard time telling you their honest opinion if it sucks. They don't want to be the asshole who ruins it for you, and with good reason.

One of the advantages to doing a webcomic (or any other online art form) is that you get tons of people who don't give a rat's ass about you looking at your work. If one of these people says it's good or it sucks, they're probably coming from a slightly more objective viewpoint than, say, your mom. Often these people give you the best advice. Of course, they also say "You suck, fag. Your comic is gay." But hey, them's the breaks.

I will be heading down to MD next week for a few days, but QC should still update on schedule. I plan on having Wednesday and Friday's strips done in advance so I can just upload them from my parents' house. Worse case scenario is that I will only have one strip done in advance, in which case I will post a sketch or something to tide you over. I'm planning to do the full week's worth of strips though.